For migrants crossing the Mediterranean from Libya towards Europe on Tuesday, November 10, it was literally a matter of life and death. News agencies reported that 13 people drowned off the Libyan coast, and on a different boat 88 people were rescued and transferred to the humanitarian rescue ship Open Arms.
Two aid organizations have criticized the situation for migrants who live in island camps in the Aegean Sea. While Germany's Kindernothilfe condemns the evacuation of PIKPA camp on Lesbos for allegedly being inhumane, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) demands safety for migrants on Samos after the fire at the Vathy camp.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has denounced in a statement that "administrative obstacles once again do not allow the Sea-Watch 4 to rescue lives while people continue to die in the central Mediterranean." The NGO said on October 23 that it fears that technicalities are being used by Italian authorities to block migrant-rescue vessels.
A mental health crisis among asylum seekers from the former Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos is worsening. InfoMigrants has learned that in the new tent facility, even young children are receiving psychiatric treatment and medication to deal with ongoing trauma.
A new study undertaken in MSF emergency centers between June and July 2020 showed that there appears to be a higher coronavirus infection rate among the poorest in Paris, including migrants and those living in precarious economic and social situations.
Four NGOs involved in the rescue of migrants experiencing difficulty at sea have issued a statement calling for Italy to stop blocking their ships.
Tensions and protests among migrants at Greece's Malakasa migrant camp on the outskirts of Athens occurred after officials reported the first death of a migrant in the country due to COVID-19.
Doctors without Border (MSF) has called on the Greek and the EU authorities to stop their efforts to rebuild a "new system of containment for refugees and asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos, Greece" after a fire destroyed the notoriuous Moria camp.
Dozens of people who were living in a makeshift tent camp near Rome's central Termini train station were evicted by Italian authorities on Monday. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it is concerned about those who were driven out, because they weren't provided with any alternative solutions.
Greek authorities are enforcing an "ill-considered" and "potentially very damaging" quarantine for migrants and asylum seekers at the overcrowded Moria camp on Lesbos, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has said. The organization also renewed its appeal to evacuate migrants to the mainland.
A boy has been evacuated from a migrant rescue ship after he received severe fuel burns. More than 200 migrants remain on the Sea-Watch 4 stranded off Sicily.
Greece's program for the voluntary return of migrants to their country of origin has been reactivated by the government's migration ministry. The scheme had been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Greek migration minister, the first flights are expected "in the coming weeks."